Solar energy is a clean, renewal energy source. Photo-electro voltaic cell technology is increasing rapidly and makes installation of solar collector panels housing the photo-electro voltaic cells more and more economically feasible. Beyond the photo-electro voltaic cell technology itself are the problems of placement and support of the solar collector panels. Large numbers of solar collector panels must be assembled in series to achieve useful power production. In remote areas these may be placed on the ground without interfering with land use. In more developed areas, it is desirable to place the solar collector panels such that the land may also be used for other purposes, e.g., for parking lots, school/office hallways, playgrounds, or sports fields. To achieve this requires an elevated structure to support the solar collector panels.
In prior known systems, installation costs amount to around 25% of the overall cost of a solar parking shade installation. These installation cost includes the cost to place modules on a rack, wire the modules together and to a combiner box, bolt the modules in place, and place the support structure on a parking shade structure. These costs often amount to almost the actual panel cost themselves due to the lack of ability to achieve assembly efficiency as well as the need in governmental markets to use union labor.
An additional deficiency in known methods/systems for solar canopy installation is that the size of solar modules used is limited to the size module a contractor can physically carry. The installation process is also cumbersome and dangerous due to work on nonstandard sites and at an elevated height.
It is desirable to have a method and system which overcomes the deficiencies of known systems. The instant invention provides such a solution.